The Only Exception
by LegitLoveStoryz
Summary: After seeing his parents quit at love so easily, Nick swore to himself he he would never put himself through such torture, but with Miley...she was truly the only exception...
1. Story Preview

**The Only Exception**

**Story Preview:**

**_"Everyone says love hurts, but that isn't true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Envy hurts. Everyone gets these things confused with love, but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all pain and makes someone feel wonderful again. Love is the only thing in this world that does not hurt."_**

He didn't know how it had happened, or why, but at age 17, Nick's life had become a living nightmare. With a messed up family consisting of a druggie mother, dying of lung cancer and a father who could care less about him, considering he believed his own son was to blame for his crappy life. Not being able to count on anybody else, besides his best friend Demi, Nick had become a one man show; he truly believed it was him, _and only him, _against the world.

Then Miley entersed his life and suddenly everything changed. His efforts to distance himself from her, in an attempt to shield her from his true identity, failed, and before he realized, she had stolen his heart and he quickly became attached. He knew he should not get too close considering he had faced disappointment all his life but he could not stay away. She became a drug to him, being his one and only cure and his only reason to go through with his once pointless life.

After seeing his parents quit so easily at love, he swore to himself that he would never put himself though such torture, but with Miley…she was truly the only exception.

In the midst of it all, his family continued to fall apart, causing him to slowly breakdown, and of course Miley was there to pick him up every time and he failed to realize that he was not the only one with the screwed up life.

**_"When I saw you I was afraid to meet you. When I met you I was afraid to kiss you. When I kissed you I was afraid to love you. Now that I love you, I am afraid to lose you."_**

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**Some of you guys might know me as florencie123 on YouTube, if not, check me out! :) Here's a new story of mine that I just had to share. review and tell me if you loved it, hated it, if you think I should post it, or just burn it and forget I ever even considered sharing such a thing. Point is, tell me what you think. I don't care if I get one review, as long as I know someone is reading my story, it's all good :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**No copyright intended, I do not own anything but the plot.**

**Hey guys! Thanks to those of you who reviewed** **for the preview, I really appreciate it. Well, here's the first chapter, it's a little short and drama-less but that's because in the first few chapters I'm introducing the characters and kind of setting the plot. Anyway, enjoy :)**

** Chapter 1**

Nick subconsciously gasped a bit not fully knowing what the cause was exactly. He didn't know what to call it; he didn't really understand what it meant or why it was happening to him, all he knew is that once _she_ stepped into the classroom his heart stopped for exactly three and a half seconds --yes he counted; it was in his nature to observe such small detail. His eyes followed her as she made her way across the room, obviously searching for any familiar faces; she had no such luck.

Prior to anything else, he noticed her big round, sparkly eyes. They were blue, green, or hazel, he couldn't tell from where he was, all he knew is that he was positive he had never seen anything so...so perfect. After not being able to find a seat on the farthest end of the room, she started making her way toward him, no doubt causing his already pounding heart to accelerate. He noticed that she was wearing a plain white v-neck t-shirt paired up with black skinny jeans and some white and black chucks with her book bag hung over her shoulder. Her outfit hugged her curves giving her a perfect hour glass figure that no straight man would be able to ignore. He had never seen a girl like her. To many guys in at the school she may be just some "hot Bay Side chick" but that was definitely not all he saw. He didn't even know the girl yet he already felt so attached. She must have noticed his staring because she kind of gave him a look so he faced forward and continued with his doodling in his notebook, just as she passed by his desk, leaving her wonderful scent lingering after her. All throughout the class period he tried to get her out of his head, but it was nearly impossible, he even found himself doodling her face in his notebook.

Nick looked hard at the teacher trying to focus on what she was saying in an attempt to get the girl off his mind.  
"okay, so the seats you are in are not your assigned seats and since there is only six minutes left of class" Mrs. Lopez, the advanced placement United States History teacher, said as she glanced at the clock behind her, "I will get to that and you can have the rest of the period to catch up on how crazy your summers were." she smiled at the class and turned to head over to the desk.

* * *

"Nick! Over here!" Nick turned around and inwardly let out a sigh of relief when he saw Demi, his best friend, no, his only friend, standing near a table with a group of her friends on it. He didn't necessarily consider them his friends, they were more like acquaintances than friends to him, he wouldn't really trust them with his deepest darkest secrets like he trusted Demi, but then again, he had known her since birth, so to him she was practically family.

"Nick" Demi said very excitedly as soon as he reached the table, strangely enough, as he noticed, she was wearing the same exact outfit as the girl from his first period class, only she was wearing black vans instead of chucks. "I need to introduce you to someone I met today"

"yeah?" he asked nonchalantly in his usual manner, but Demi was used to this so she proceeded by saying "yeah, come on" she led him to a tall, dark-haired, good looking guy who looked about three inches taller than him, he could definitely pass as a football player if he wasn't already one.

"Joe, this is my friend Nick; Nick, Joe" Nick nodded at him all the while still observing him.

"Nice to meet you man" Joe said

"Ditto" Nick replied, he knew he should say more but that was not him at all. He hated meeting new people because that meant having to talk about himself and that led to family and background information and that was most definitely not a subject he liked to get into. "Joe's new here, he moved here from New York" Demi added obviously trying to keep the conversation going.

Nick was just about to respond when once again his heart was, for lack of a better word, disturbed, by none other than _her _again, wow, what he would give for an explanation to why she had that affect on him.  
She had made her way over to Nick and his friends' table  
"hey Demi you don't mind if I sit with you guys do you? I'm kind of not in the mood for my friends right now"

"of course not, girl, take a seat I haven't talked to you in forever!" Demi said obviously implying that she had known the girl for a while, this surprised Nick a bit he had assumed she was new to the school considering he had never seen her around in previous years.

No matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. It was getting ridiculous the affect this girl already had on him. He was Nick freaking Gray for Pete's sake he didn't give a crap about any of these people, except for Demi of course; and that was only because he had known her all his life. It was messed up, but true, if it wasn't for that fact alone, he wouldn't give a crap about her either. That was just who he was, he trusted _very _few people in his life. And then _she_ comes along and all of a sudden nothing makes sense anymore? Hell no, he wasn't going let that happen.

He noticed she was once again giving him that same creeped out look that she had given him earlier that morning and he quickly looked down at his hands on the table.

Demi noticed the little exchange which to her was strange since as far as she knew they hadn't met yet, which reminded her...

"By the way Miley, this is Selena, Cody, Mitchell..." she pointed to each person as she said their name going around the table. "And this is Nick, my best friend, we've known each other since we were in diapers"

"hey, you're in one of my classes aren't you?" she asked looking at me. As if she didn't know. A little coy aren't we, he thought to himself.

"yup" he replied in his usual indifferent manner. He didn't dare look at her; he knew that would not end well.

"well nice to meet you" she said a little thrown off by his attitude, she looked around the table at everyone else, "nice to meet all of you"

As everyone conversed, Nick decided that was about as much of school as he could handle for a day so he stood up successfully escaping the table unnoticed. He made his way down the hallways of the fancy school and out the main entrance. He knew it was far beyond idiotic to ditch school the first day back but he couldn't take it much longer, things were beginning to fall out of place and he knew one place that would make sense of everything and help him feel whole again. Although he knew there would be some consequences, but he could care less about that at that point.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I know it took a while for me to post this and I'm sorry, I'll try not to take so long. So a lot of you liked how this story is in Nick's point of view and just so you know, the first few chapters are me just kind of experimenting with how the story should be written and who to keep or take out of the story and such...so just for a heads up I'll probably keep the story in Nick's point of view but these first few chapters will switch around from multiple point of views. Anyway, here's chapter two (still setting the plot), I hope you like it! :)**

**Chapter 2**

Nick gulped the last of his shot making a face as the liquid burned his throat. The female sitting on his lap was noticeably getting quite heavy causing his thighs to cramp up. He realized for some odd reason he couldn't remember her name, although he had been meeting up with her at that club for quite some time; she was seriously like medicine to him, whenever he didn't feel like dealing with his crappy life, he went to her and she always managed to make him feel better, for a while, until he'd get home and the cycle would begin once again. Although she was as hot as they get, with long light brown wavy hair that went about halfway down her back, beautiful piercing hazel eyes, a smile to die for, and she was wearing a short black skin tight dress that complimented her perfect figure, all this was not enough to prevent him from feeling extremely annoyed with the way she was clinging on to him at the moment.

"hey," he said looking at her as she shifted in his lap to look at him "I should go"

She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout "aw, so soon?" she asked, only causing his annoyance to increase.

"Yeah well..." he wanted to push her off but decided to go with his better judgment.

"Okay fine but first..." before he could react, the girl pressed her lips to his and before long that relatively small gesture had turned into a full on make out session. The minute she realized she was getting a reaction from him she repositioned herself in his lap so that she had each of her legs on either side of him, straddling him.

Nick's longing to get out of there had quickly vanished as soon as the girl had placed her soft lips on his and soon enough his hands were traveling up her leg, stopping at the hem of her dress and sliding right back down (a/n: bts just came on 3).

The pair jumped apart alarmed by Nick's phone ringing from his jeans pocket. "Sorry, I should probably take this." She didn't give him time to even finish his sentence before she walked off with obvious annoyance written all over her face.

"Until next time" he called after her with a chuckle. His grin quickly vanished after looking at the caller ID. It was his mom. He automatically pressed ignore and shoved his phone in his back pocket and stalked off out of the club.

* * *

"Do I always have something on my face or do you just have a starring problem?" Nick couldn't believe the girl had actually walked up to his desk and asked him that. Of course he knew she had noticed him starring considering he had not be able to detach his eyes from her for about a week or so. What shocked him was that she actually had the guts to walk up to him and challenge him, unlike everyone else in school who just assumed that he was 'an ass' just because he had opinions which he tended to express whenever he felt necessary. He had to admit, that was kinda hot.

"What makes you think I was looking at you?" he retorted his coy side kicking in. "How do you know I wasn't looking at the girl behind you?"

"Oh 'cause that girl is always behind me, right?" she challenged.

"Are you really that self-centered to think that I'm always staring at you?"

"Hey I just want to know why you're always staring at me because to tell you the truth, I'd sleep a lot better at night knowing that I don't have a stalker watching me from my bedroom window." She was trying extremely hard to hide her smirk but failing miserably.

"That's funny because I've been having the same thoughts late at night"

"what're you trying to say Gray?"

"I rest my case." he said leaning back in his chair.

She looked at him with a confused expression, "wait, what?"  
She was interrupted by the teacher walking into the classroom and saying, "Okay, everyone in their assigned seats please."

Miley returned to her seat wondering how the situation she had put herself in had turned out way differently than she had planned. She had gone over to Nick's desk hoping to maybe see him blush a bit but he had completely dodged her accusations and turned it all on her somehow. She had always been the kind of girl to be in charge when it came to those kinds of situations but it appeared she had met her match and she had to admit, that kind of excited her; he gave her a challenge and she liked that.

* * *

"Hey, Nick right?" Miley asked trying to catch up to him

Nick looked sideways at her, then faced forward once again, not replying to her but also not necessarily ignoring her either.

"I'm sitting at your table for lunch again so I'll walk with you over there, 'kay?"

He glanced at her once more and once again returned his gaze in front of him.

"You don't talk much do you?" She asked, looking at him as though he were a foreign creature.

"Oh I talk," he said in his very monotonic manner, "just not when it's unnecessary unlike most people."

She nodded, "I can respect that" she replied getting an eyebrow raise from him in return. "What?" She asked, noticing his expression.

"Nothing." Her reaction to his confession was very...different, unlike everyone else who had responded with saying things such as "why?" or "that's weird".

"Hey guys" came Demi's usual cheerful voice, "I see you guys are acquainted already." She smiled.

"Yeah I decided I should sit with you guys again." Miley said sitting next to Nick who had already taken a seat across from Demi.

Demi gave Miley a concerned look, "you okay Miley? Do you maybe want to talk? I'm a great listener." She gave her a sincere smile.

"I'm fine, it's just Liam again, don't worry about it."

"Uh oh, what'd he do this time?"

"It's nothing." Her voice cracked a little and she quickly looked to the side as an attempt to avoid eye contact as soon as she felt some tears begin to form in her eyes. 'he's just a dumbass"

"Wanna talk about it?" Demi asked sincerely concerned.

"There really isn't anything left to say," she said, looking at her hands on the table, "we broke up" she said feeling a giant lump in her throat. As she looked up at Demi she noticed that all eyes at the table were on her. As much as she wanted to get up and run out of the cafeteria, she knew it'd be a lot less dramatic to just stay strong and stay put.

As Demi went around the table to comfort her friend, everyone else returned to their conversations. Everyone except Nick of course. He was trying to catch up with everything he had just heard and trying to control the feelings he was getting at the moment. First of all, his body was tingly from her arm periodically brushing against his, that, at least he could control, what he couldn't handle was the urge to just grab her and have his way with her, I mean he was only a man. She was so close to him he could have counted every single one of the cute little freckles on her face. He also wanted to beat the crap out of that Liam guy that was evidently the cause of her tears, he felt way to protective of her for his own comfort; he wasn't supposed to feel this way, it was supposed to be him, AND ONLY HIM, against the world.

"There you go staring at me again." When had she stopped crying anyway? "Oh wait, or were you looking at the girl behind me again?" she smirked.

"Maybe I just think you're so gorgeous." That would shut her up.

"I know that, I was just trying to get you to admit it." That got a smile out of him.

"Flirting already? Wow you kids move fast" Joe said and everyone laughed except Nick who did not want anyone, especially Miley, to think he was flirting.

Miley looked at him, "why are you always so serious? Loosen up a bit man." She said shaking him by the shoulder.

"Why do you ask so many questions?" He snapped.

"Well then, never mind." She said as she turned to Demi and rolled her eyes at his rudeness.

Nick was relieved to hear the bell ring considering he was becoming very annoyed with everyone and everything again, but unlike the previous day, he knew he couldn't escape from it all; he had to go to those last two classes sooner or later, and he didn't feel like hearing all his dad's shitty lectures anymore.

Entering his last class, the first face Nick saw was Miley's, which made his own face light up for half a second before he realized and regained his composure.

Miley saw Nick enter the classroom and gestured for him to join her. Surprisingly, he obliged and made his way over to where she was.

"You have this class? How come you weren't here yesterday?" She asked curiously.

He sighed as he took the seat next to her, "here we go with the questions again."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I forgot about your issue with being questioned."

"How's class so far?" Nick asked attempting to start a conversation which was completely new to him; he never usually tried at all.

"We didn't really do anything yesterday; all the teacher did was explain how the class is expected to run and blah blah blah..." Suddenly her face lit up as something, or rather someone from the front of the classroom captured her attention.

Nick lifted his head up and saw a tall, tan, broad-shouldered guy entering the room. He had short dark hair, a pretty decent looking face, and some piercing blue eyes. He dressed very casually; he had on a pair of dark denim jeans, a white t-shirt, topped off with a gray hoodie, which seemed pretty ridiculous to Nick considering it was just about 97 degrees out, and he also wore some black vans, the same exact ones Nick and just about every other student in school was wearing.

"Well, I guess it's now or never." Miley muttered and right away, Nick realized the guy must have been Liam, also known as, the 'dumbass' that Miley had been seeing.

Nick, jumping on impulse, grabbed miley's hand to stop her from going any further. "Stay." he commanded.

She gave him a look, "Nick, I have to end things right, this weirdness between me and him is just not going to cut it for me."

"Sit down." He tugged at her hand, "if he's a man, HE will come to you, not the other way around" he looked over at Liam, who was surrounded by a group of about five girls. "Be honest, does he look like he cares?"

She looked at him and sighed heavily, and then she shook her head no. "Sit." Nick said again, this time in a soothing voice that made her melt internally; how can she refuse that voice?

Miley sat back down but Nick held on to her hand. His head was telling him to let go and stop leading her on, but his heart told him to screw it because he was only fooling himself.

Miley looked down at her and Nick's hands on the desk, with Nick's caressing hers, then she looked up at him and he had his eyes glued to hers almost as though he was waiting for a reaction. She gave no reaction so he proceeded by taking his other hand, 'examining' hers finger by finger, starting with the index finger.

"What are you doing?" She questioned after a while; things were becoming a bit awkward for her.

He looked at her, "You have the softest hands, has anyone ever told you that?"

'What is wrong with you? One minute you'll totally hate me, the next you act as if we're freaking married!"

He responded with a little smirk, "I like to keep you on your toes." he winked at her.

She felt her face getting warmer by the second; she knew her face probably looked like a tomato which only made matters worse.

He leaned closer to her whispering, "Miley, you're blushing hun."

She narrowed her eyes at him as she felt her face practically turning purple from blushing

And with that, he chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

**Don't murder me, I PROMISE it'll get longer! :) && If you'd like to make me smile and write the next chapter in an ecstatic mood, REVIEW s'il vous plait!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, thank you so much for reviewing my little 'ol story :) it means a lot. So, here is chapter three, which is mostly Miley's point of view. I've decided, i'm going to keep the story in Nick's point of view, this is his story and want to keep it that way. In other words, I will not switch around on the POV's; and based on your reviews, I think the majority of you guys like it that way. Once again, this is the first and last chapter that will be in Miley's POV, so enjoy!**

**P.S., I totally HATE this chapter, I think I rushed it, and it does not even come close to what I had planned, I actually feel a bit ashamed that I'm posting it...UGH! awful. And if you say otherwise, I won't believe you. I PROMISE I'll make it up to you guys next chapter :]**

**Chapter 3**

It had been about a month since Miley had met Nick and she still hadn't been able to figure him out yet. He was still acting bipolar with her; one day he wouldn't even look at her, the next he would treat her as though she was his greatest treasure. She would say they were pretty close by that time but then again she wouldn't necessarily say she was best friends with the guy that at times looked at her as if she was his biggest enemy.

At the moment, she was in the middle of working on an anatomy project with her group which consisted of both Nick _and_ Liam and a girl named Selena, who had transferred into their class the previous week. Coincidently, Nick decided that day was one of those days he did not hate her and instead he would flirt with her like he had never flirted before. Liam, being the jealous guy that he was, was just not having it, so he decided he should speak out.

'Do you two maybe need a room? 'Cause we could always leave'. Liam said obviously annoyed.

'yes, actually, we do.' Nick snapped back 'and don't even bother coming back, we'll probably need the room for a lot more than an hour' he said a scowl appearing on his face.

Miley jerked her head to look at him 'Nick!'

'It's cool, I'm out' Liam said as he got up, grabbed his car keys and jacket and headed for the door. Before he opened the door, he looked back at Selena, who was looking rather uncomfortable in her position across from Nick and Miley. 'Are you coming or what?' he asked impatiently'

'You can go, my mom's coming in a minute.' She quickly answered not wanting to sit in the same car with him judging by how incredibly angry he appeared to be.

Before Selena could even finish her sentence, Liam was already out the door with the door slamming shut after him.

Selena looked at Miley who had her face in her palms looking very frustrated. 'Well, I should go wait for my mom,' she stood up, 'I'll see you guys later' and with that, she was gone as well.

Nick waited till Selena was completely out of the house before he looked at Miley and said 'what's the matter with you'

She glared at him, 'what's the matter with ME? What's the matter with YOU? You knew things were getting a little less awkward between Liam and I, he was actually starting to talk to me again, but nooo, you just had to ruin it.'

'What do you see in him anyway? He obviously doesn't give a shit about you, why are you so sprung on him?'

She looked at him in disbelief 'you don't know that' she said in a voice that was barely even a whisper.

'When you look at him, does he honestly seem like he cares about you, or are you just that stupid?'

She was at loss for words, what was wrong with him? Could he not tell how close to tears she was? 'Why are you being so mean?'

'You think I'm being mean? I'm just being honest with you. I just didn't think you were those idiot girls who-'

'No! You act as if we're the best of friends but then you do things like call me a stupid idiot, or worse, there are days you just ignore me... And I want to know why'

He sighed, 'I told you when we met, I speak my mind, if you don't like it that's not my problem'

'It's one thing to speak your mind, but it's another to basically just hate someone for no good reason' trying to hide her frustration was becoming extremely difficult for Miley at that point.

'You think I _hate_ you? Do you think if I hated you I'd waste my time with even talking to you?'

'Then what the hell is wrong with you!' she yelled, startling both him and herself as well. He had no idea she felt this way; his heart broke seeing the disappointment in her eyes.

'Look Miley, I like you, okay? And it scares the crap out of me how much I like you' she looked at him, not sure of where he was headed exactly. 'I've never had these kind of feelings for a girl in my life, I know it sounds sort of weird, but it's true, I've always been able to push aside any feelings I was developing for a girl, but with you it's...'

'Why hold back your feelings?' she whispered overwhelmed with his confession.

'my life is...complicated, and I try not to involve people in it' he replied astonished by how easy it was to confide in her, he had _never_ talked about his personal life to someone that he'd known for merely a month.

'You know' she said playing with the ring on her finger 'you're not the only one with a complicated life'

'you don't know my life' he snapped.

'And you need to quit feeling so damn sorry for yourself!'

'You know what? I don't need this from you' he said ready to get up.

'No' she placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him back down on the couch. 'You go around trying to intimidate others with your 'sad' life story, not even considering the fact that there are people out there who'd kill for your life. You know what Gray, instead of focusing on the sucky part of your life, try thinking of all the things and people that you're blessed to have. Such as Demi perhaps'

'you don't know my life' he repeated not sure of what to say to all that.

'And you don't know mine, so I guess we're even' she smirked at how empowering her outburst had felt.

Nick knew her words were true but he was too stubborn to admit it so he remained silent.

Miley's temporary confidence quickly vanished as soon as she realized just how close she had gotten to his face. Her heart soon realized her current situation and was quick to respond with a pause for a second, followed by some dangerously rapid beating. This was a routine her heart had created for anytime she got too close to Nick. Her eyes traveled down from his warm brown eyes to his lips. Every time she'd inhale, his scent would enter her nostrils causing the butterflies in her stomach to go wild and her eyes to shut as she took in the perfect moment. She felt his arm wrap around her pulling her closer to him so that their faces were only centimeters apart. Her heart accelerated, and she was sure he could feel it considering she could feel his. She wasn't exactly on his lap but both her knees were on one side of his thighs so that if she wanted, she could simply sit and she'd be on his lap. She noticed his eyes moving from her own eyes to her lips and  
back to her eyes again, almost as if waiting for her permission to proceed. She moved her face closer to his, brushing her lips against his. She could have easily gone ahead and kissed him but she wanted him to make the first move because she knew how stupid she'd feel if she kissed him and he pushed her off.

Nick pulled her closer if even possible and their lips brushed against each other once more and he was obviously done with the teasing since before Miley knew it, their lips were connected and Miley's heart had forgotten how to do it's job. When they realized Their oxygen shortage, they pulled away breathing heavily and looking at each other as Nick caressed Miley's cheek with his thumb.

Soon enough, they were once again connected at the mouth this time getting a bit more aggressive. Nick licked her bottom lip, begging for entrance and she gladly obliged. Miley smiled into the kiss as their tongue war began and she felt Nick twisting his fingers in her hair; boy did he know how to handle her.

He pulled away again but Miley held on to his bottom lip with her teeth, pulling it as he got further away from her face; she was obviously proving to him just how much she was enjoying their little moment. He smirked at her, 'what the hell am I doing?'

'following your heart for once in your life...hopefully' she said getting comfortable in his lap by taking one of her legs to the other side of his thigh as she straddled him and finally sat down.

He grabbed her arms and wrapped them around his neck, then placed his own hands on her hips and kissed the tip of her nose. 'I have a feeling what my heart's telling me is the right thing to do' he softly kissed her right cheek, then her left one, her chin, the corner of her mouth, and finally her swollen lips.

'My mom's going to be here any second' she murmured against his lips.

"And my dad's probably home right now wondering where I'm at, _so I guess we're even" _he said mimicking her with a smirk.

She grabbed his hands from their place on her hips ready to get out of his lap, but he intertwined his fingers with hers then pulled her back down on his lap and gave her a sweet, breathtaking, slow kiss that made her completely forget about the fact that her mom could walk in any minute. She ran her fingers through his hair then let out a small 'mmh' and felt his lips forming a smile against hers at that.

Nick finally pulled away and Miley desperately pulled at his bottom lip once again. He looked at her and smiled, 'your mom'

'Oh yeah' she said with a sheepish smile.

Nick then unexpectedly stood, taking her up with him with her legs tightly wrapped around his waist. 'Nick!' she yelped with a laugh, 'put me down!'

He placed a lingering kiss on her lips before putting her down. As soon as her feet reached the carpeted floor, it was as if her legs had forgotten how to function because she stumbled trying to maintain her balance.

Nick chuckled as he grabbed her by the waist helping her stay on her feet. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, I guess my feet just fell asleep' she said as she felt her face reddening.

'Oh, is that so?' he asked in a teasing voice

'Shut up!' she said smacking his chest as her face got even more red.

'I'll see you later?' he asked holding his arms out for a hug.

'Yeah' she answered wrapping her arms around his torso and resting her head on his chest.

'Miley?' she looked up at him. 'I hope you know what you're getting yourself into' he said, trying to sound humorous but was completely serious.

Miley knew that he was once again referring to his 'complicated' life and she wanted to assure him of how serious she was about him. 'I'm always up for a challenge' she grinned up at him. And with that, he captured her lips in another knee-weakening kiss that left both of them breathless.

** T.H.E.O.N.L.Y.E.X.C.E.P.T.I.O.N. **

'I don't believe you!' Miley heard Demi shriek from the other line.

'I swear to you Demi, its true.' Miley insisted

'Miley, the Nick Gray I know does not confess intimate feelings for ANYONE. He hasn't had a girlfriend since the sixth grade!'

'Thanks Demi, this is all making me feel so happy you have no idea.' Miley said in a sarcastic tone.

'I'm sorry, it's just...this is Nick we're talking about! Miley, the boy makes girls cry because he is so brutally honest, if you're not used to him, he's the biggest ass in the universe, ask Selena, she'll tell you.

'What'd he do to Selena?' now she was curious

'that's not important right now. Miley, I'm just warning you ahead of time before you get hurt.'

'I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself.' Miley said a little too confident; she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince exactly, Demi or herself.

'So what? Are you two like dating now?'

'I'm not sure what we are exactly, nothings really official yet.' Miley said, doubt beginning to appear in her voice. What if he decided to change his mind? What if he went right back to his weird bipolar attitude again? How stupid would she look? Maybe Demi was right. What was she thinking? Nick was still the same person, how could she be so stupid as to think she would be able to alter his entire persona? 'Hey, Demi, I should probably get to bed, I'll see you on Monday?'

'Okay, bye, good luck with the whole Nick thing' and with that, Demi hung up, leaving Miley to ponder her previous warnings about Nick.

Less than a second after Demi hung up, Miley's phone started to ring once again. She grabbed the phone and as soon as her eyes caught a glimpse of the caller ID, her hear was quick to respond with rapid beating. 'Hello?' she answered half nervous half excited. She tried her best to control her shaky voice. Gosh! Since when was she like this around anyone?

'Hey Miley' Nick said oh so softly causing Miley's heart to melt for about the 40th time that day.

'Hey Nick, what's up?' she asked trying to play it cool, when in reality, she was a mess.

'I couldn't sleep' she heard his velvety voice reply caressing her ear.

'Why not?'

'I couldn't stop thinking about you' she could hear the smile appearing on his face. 'So I decided to call you'

She was thankful he wasn't with her to see her reddening face or the goofy grin that was widening on her face. What in the world was she supposed to reply to that? 'Wow Nick, who would have thought?'

'What?' he asked curiously.

'That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me, I didn't know you could be so sweet.'

'There's a lot you don't know about me. I realize I may come off as a total ass but I just like to be honest with people.'

'You know what I realized today Nick?' Miley asked as she twirled some of her hair around her finger, 'I realized that that's what I like about you, you don't give a crap about other people's opinions of you...everything about you is just like a puzzle to and I want to figure you out.'

Nick's grin had already disappeared as his brain digested her confession. 'I don't know if you'd like the result very much.' he finally let out in almost a whisper.

'I'm liking it so far' she said attempting to cheer him up and relieve him of his momentarily somber feelings.

He was quiet for a moment taking some time to ponder her words.

'What's on your mind' she asked trying to get rid of the awkward silence.

'You' he simply answered not realizing his words' effect on her; the doubts she had been feeling before he called were all long gone and forgotten. 'Let me take you out tomorrow.'

'I can't, my mom's making me stay home all weekend, we're having company over, I'd invite you over but...'

'It's cool; I guess I'll see you on Monday then.' Miley wasn't sure but she could have sworn she heard a hint of disappointment in his voice. 'I'm sorry, it's just that my mom's really weird when it comes to me and guys, she thinks I'm too young for that kind of stuff you know?'

'Miley, it's okay; I totally get it' he assured her 'I'll talk to you soon okay?'

'Okay' she paused for a while before continuing 'did it help?'  
She asked softly.

'Yes' he said simply; he knew she was referring to what he had said earlier about calling her due to the fact that he had not been able to fall asleep.

'Good' she smiled as she played with the thread that was sticking out of the shorts she had on.

'Goodnight Miley' and before she was ready, all she heard was the dial tone on the other end of the line.

'Miley!' Tish barked as she barged into her only daughter's room, 'How many times do I have to-' she stopped mid-sentence as soon as she saw the wide smile plastered on Miley's face. 'What is with that goofy smile on your face?'

Miley rolled her eyes, not even her mom would be able to rain on her parade on that beautiful night. 'Nothing mom.'

'It's a boy, isn't it? Is it Liam again? I told you that boy was no good-'

'Goodnight mom!' she interrupted her, laying down on her bed and bringing her comforter over her head as symbol of her annoyance toward her mom.

'Goodnight' Tish said exiting the bedroom. 'And this better be my last goodnight to you tonight' she warned and then shut the door leaving her daughter to her thoughts of the beautiful boy that had been able to capture her heart in less then a month. A record.

**LET ME KNOW WhAT YOU THINK! **

**Just a heads up, be prepaired for a bit more drama in the next chapter :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry in advance if this chapter seems like it's all over the place, it's just that I had a chapter ready to kind of prepare you guys for this one, but somehow I deleted it. I was going to rewrite it but it just would not come out right (that's mainly why it took me so long to update), so I tried saying everything I needed to say in this chapter. So if there's anything that confuses you in this chapter, feel free to bombard me with questions. Another thing, I realized although this is Nicks story, it is EXTREMELY difficult to stick to his point of view, so in future chapters, I will most likely write in Miley's point of view in order to give the story a better flow. I'm also sorry if this chapter seems rushed; I just really wanted to give guys something. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Chapter 4**

It was nearly 8:00 pm and Nick was still roaming the streets, trying to avoid going back home. He slammed the door to his black and partially white mustang as he headed for his very dependable, very safe haven.

It was incredible to him how life worked out for him. Just about ten or so hours earlier he had been overwhelmed with infatuation for a girl he had only met a month before and then his dad suddenly decided to rain on his perfect parade of course by sharing news that completely altered his perspective on life, news that he felt safe to say may have completely changed his life.

His mother was dying. He attempted to analyze that sentence as he sat at a bar, filling himself with the damaging beverage from the glass he held in his hand. Up until that day, he had considered her a poor excuse for a mother whose only accomplishment had been giving birth to her only child. As far as he was aware, she had given up on him as soon as he was born, not being able to detach from her pre-baby lifestyle full of childish behavior. She had obviously not been prepared for the responsibility of raising a child and if it had been up to him, he would rather have not been born.

"You know, I was honestly beginning to worry I would never be able to see you again." Nick had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he had  
failed to notice the all too familiar beautiful young lady sitting in the stool next to him.

He let out a long, frustrated sigh. "Not today Carissa, I'm not in the mood." Without even looking at her, he knew she was giving him that same look she gave all the other guys who were beneath her, the ones that did not measure up to her standards. He knew she reserved that look for intimidation and any other day it would have worked, but at the moment, he could care less.

"Look Nick, I don't have to waste my time with you, you know that right?"

"Then why do you?" He challenged, taking a quick glance at her before he took another sip of the beverage in his hand.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" She questioned, with a hint of concern in her voice. "You look like you're ready to kill somebody."

"My mo-ther's dying." He said coldly, trying to convince himself that, that fact alone didn't change his feelings toward her. And the fact that he was ready to break into tears made him all the more angry. Why should he give a damn about her and her well being when the feeling was obviously not neutral?

"Nick, look at me." Carissa's face softened as she placed one hand on his cheek, turning it to face her. "You're not alone; I know how you feel."

"What the hell?!" He yanked her hand off his face and glared at her. He knew she didn't give a crap about his personal life, but he would have never guessed she would ever stoop so low. "You seriously think this is the time for jokes?"

She was silent for a while before she finally replied, "I lost my daddy when I was eight...he was my best friend." Crap. He knew he had to apologize. He wasn't too fond of apologies.

"Sorry..." She nodded in response and proceeded by downing the shot, placed in front of her by the bartender, and grabbing his arm off the table and pulling him with her. "Come on, let's leave it all behind and forget the drama, come dance with me."

He hesitantly accepted her offer and he immediately knew it was a bad idea, but at the moment, all he truly wanted was to get his mind off everything; he simply could not pass up such an opportunity. After he stepped onto the dance floor it was all just a continuous cycle from there: dance (sometimes with God only knows who), fill up with massive amounts of alcohol, then dance some more; and that was about all he could remember from the night. Although, one particular incident seemed to be emphasized in his mind.

One minute he was dancing with Carissa, the next he found himself standing in the middle of the dance floor, his hands rested on her hips, hers around his neck, their tongues colliding with so much force and energy it was a surprise to both him and apparently Carissa as well, that he managed to detach himself from her grasp. Before he even had the time to analyze his reasons for pulling away, he was met with a pair of dark brown eyes, filled with a mixture of sorrow, pity, and most of all, disappointment. And what he saw next to them, further stretched out the whole in his heart that was continuously widening by the minute. The hazy light blue orbs that met his gaze sent his mind into a frenzy, attempting to make sense of the situation at hand. It appeared, however, that his conscious would have rather not cooperate at the moment.

What came after that he was not sure of; he remembered bits and pieces of the conversation between Demi and Miley. From what he remembered,  
Demi had somehow convinced Miley to let him spend the night in her room and he wasn't quite sure why they hadn't just taken him to his own house. Although he could not remember much about the eventful night, he was well aware that the outcome would be disastrous.

** T.H.E.O.N.L.Y.E.X.C.E.P.T.I.O.N **

The minute Nick opened his eyes the following morning, the image that met them was so mesmerizing, causing him to experience whiplash for the second time in his entire life, both times caused by the same source. She was seated atop her purple and black sleeping bag, with her back rested against the wall that faced the bed he was currently laying in. She was staring blankly at the area of the ceiling directly above him, her long, dark brown, wavy hair with subtle chestnut tones, emphasized by the early morning sun shining through the open window, falling perfectly down about an inch past her breasts. Her soft, delicate face held such innocence that was so rare yet beautiful, and he was afraid if he wasn't careful, it would diminish all too quickly. Her eyes. The only pearls that seemed to stop his heartbeat all together. Also highlighted by the sun, the light blue beauties seemed to betray her nonchalant demeanor by portraying every sentiment of her heart. He could have sworn he was in the middle of a dream considering the incomparable scene before him. He _had_ to have met this girl in a past life, he _had_ to have been linked to her somehow, that compelling attraction he felt toward her could not have appeared from midair and the fact that his feelings for her doubled in intensity each day _had_ to mean something.

"Took you a while." she got up off her position on her sleeping bag across from him, shaking him out of his trance, and started toward her closet, where he assumed she had kept his belongings.

In no time, he had made his way behind her, not exactly sure how to present his apology. "Miley..." he reached over placing his hand on her bare shoulder,"I'm sorry."

She pulled away from his touch, as more anger built up in her, "don't touch me. You are going to get your crap and get out of this house." she said through clenched teeth.

Little did Miley know that was the exact same thing Robert, Nick's dad, had spat at Lisa, his wife of at the time eight years when he had decided he wasn't going to take anymore of her nonsense? That simple sentence triggered so many emotions buried deep inside of Nick, some of which even he wasn't aware of their existence. Suddenly, it was as though he was an innocent eight year old boy once again whose only wish was to have two loving parents just like all the normal boys and girls he knew. He could feel the pool of tears forming in his eyes as he reminisced back to the rare occasions when it appeared as though his mother actually cared. Boy how naive he had been.

Miley turned around to face him, "And don't even think of-" she stopped mid-sentence, stunned by what she was seeing. Were those _tears_ she saw forming in _Nick Gray_'s eyes? She stepped closer to him. "Nick? Are you crying?"

"My mom's dying." He whispered in a barely audible voice, almost as if validating it to himself more than anything else. It was really happening, there was no way around it, his mother was really dying. All of a sudden, one by one, tears started flowing down his cheeks. He tried to quickly wipe them away but more just kept coming.

"What?" Miley finally responded, "Nick-"

His eyes searched the room for his shoes, and when he spotted them, he hurried to them and also grabbed his jacket. "My mom has lung cancer, I found out yesterday morning that she was rushed to the hospital...she's going to die," he put his jacket on ready to leave the room.

She hurried to him and grabbed a hold of his arm stopping him in his tracks. "Nick stop, you don't know that."

"She's been in the hospital three times this month, _three_ times Miley! She's going to die," more tears poured down his face as he said the last few words. "How am I supposed to make it up to her after being such a dick to her all these years?"

"Go see her Nick," Miley suggested, stunned at the sensitive side of Nick she hadn't been exposed to until that moment. He looked so vulnerable, like a little boy who just wanted his mommy. She wasn't sure how to act or what to do to make him feel better.

"I can't..." he semi-whispered.

"Why not? Why can't you go see her? She's your mother."

"I...it's not that simple, okay?" he let out a shaky sigh as he sat down on Miley's bed with his head placed in both his hands. "I haven't spoken to her since I was nine, I don't want to see her, she doesn't want to see me, so...whatever."

Nick was a little surprised at Miley's reaction to his confession, he had been nearly positive she wouldn't care for his family drama. He felt her kneel in front of him so she was at eye level with him, grab his hands, peeling them from his face and forced him to look at her. "It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay." She assured him, pulling him into a tight hug. He was sure she could feel his body shaking against hers, revealing how fragile he really was at the moment. He knew she had no clue how deep the story went than his mom just dying but she also knew better than to bombard him with questions at a time like that. "It's okay, it's okay." She soothed as he tightened the hug as though he was afraid she, too, would slip out of his grasp in the blink of an eye. She rubbed his back assuring him otherwise.

She pulled away and looked at him, concern written all over her face. "Lie down and rest, I'll bring you a glass of water, okay?"

"No,' he said getting up 'I should go back home before your mom-"

She interrupted him by gently pushing him back down on the bed, "I'll explain it to my mom, there's no way I'm letting you go home like  
this, when your dad won't be back for God knows how long."

"Miley..." he started, uncertain.

"No Nick, stay" she said as she opened the door to leave the room, "I'll be right back." she closed the door and he could hear her make her way down the stairs.

He wondered if her mother even knew that they were dating, he hadn't had the chance to officially meet her yet. How in the world was Miley going to convince her mother, who was apparently over protective when it came to boys, to let her daughter's unofficial boyfriend stay in her home for god knew how long.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" He heard the mother's suspicious voice faintly from the cracked open door.

"Mom, I need to tell you something, but first, promise me you won't freak out."

"I'm not promising anything Miley so I suggest you tell me what this is all about before I find out myself."

"Well, um," And Nick was almost sure she took her left hand up to the top of her head, scratching it, her noticeable nervous habit. "Nick's here."

"Here where?" He heard her mother reply, stunned.

"In my room." She confessed, "But I can explain." She paused, "mom, he's really not In a healthy condition right now, I don't think it'd  
be wise to send him to an empty home right now."

"Where's his dad?"

"That's the thing mom, his dad's at the hospital with his mom, who by the way has cancer. He's a wreck right now 'cause he thinks she's  
dying. Nick couldn't bear to hear another word; it was as though any time his mother was mentioned, he was forced to go back to his old young, gullible self once more, forced to face the emotions he had mastered at burying so deep in the sole of his heart...

"Momma, why are you going to work right now?"

"Momma's busy right now Nicky, go back to sleep."

"Is daddy okay? Go help daddy momma."

"Go back to sleep honey, everything's okay."

"Are you gonna be back tomorrow momma? Are you gonna make me ten pancakes with lots of syrup? Are we gonna go to the park with daddy again? Are you gonna push me on the swings and buy me ice-cream and-"

"The sooner you get to bed the sooner that's all going to happen Nicky."

"Promise?"

"Uh-huh, now get to bed"...

"I'll check on y'all in a minute!" Nick heard Miley's mom call from the bottom of the stairs just as Miley entered the room. Nick had positioned himself on top of her bed so that he was laying curled up in a ball facing away from the door.

"Nick?" She whispered, obviously not wanting to wake him if he was asleep. She made her way over to him as he sat up on the bed, running his fingers through his hair without saying a word. "Here's you're water." She said, making herself comfortable next to him.

Nick gulped down the entire glass of water before placing it on the nightstand and looking at Miley. "What'd your mom say?"

"She said you can stay." Miley assured him with a smile, as he took his right hand to the back of her head and playfully tugged at small locks of her hair, his eyes never leaving hers. "She's coming to check on us in a little bit." Miley continued.

With his hand on the back of her head, Nick pulled her toward him, pausing inches away from her lips for a second, before proceeding by planting a soft, sweet kiss on them. "I'm sorry," he murmured, his forehead rested against hers. He hadn't failed to notice how whenever she was around him, he couldn't help but focus solely on her, almost completely distracting him from everything and anything else. He knew he had to make things right with her before it was too late.

"One question," she said looking at him as he nodded for her to continue, "who is she?"

"No one you have to worry about anymore."

She gave him a look, obviously not satisfied with his answer.

He sighed, "She's nobody, I promise."

"Does that mean you go around making out with random girls you don't care about? Does that make me a "nobody" too?" she asked anger apparent in her voice. "Please explain, 'cause I don't understand."

"He looked away toward the door, then at her again, "when I'm feeling stressed, I tend to go to that club, and, well, she's always there. Before I met you we had this thing...long story short, she didn't know about you, and she assumed it'd be okay to kiss me."

"And you thought it'd be okay to kiss back." She stated, earning a somewhat stunned expression from him.

"I made sure she knew I was taken." He assured her, playfully tugging at the ends of her hair. He then leaned in to plant a gentle kiss on  
her lips. "Forgive me?" He murmured.

She nodded her head, reaching her hand up to his cheek and caressing it with her thumb. "How are you?"

He knew she was referring to his mom but he was trying desperately to relieve himself of such thoughts so he simply gave her a reassuring  
smile.

"Knock knock," came Tish's voice from outside the bedroom door. She slightly opened the door, poking her head in the room. "Hi guys, I'm  
not interrupting anything, am I?" she joked.

Miley rolled her eyes at her mom's ridiculousness, "hi mom."

"Hey Tish, thanks for letting me crash here," Nick said, apparently surprising Miley with his politeness, judging by how she subconsciously jerked her head to look at him; he was never that nice with adults, except for Demi's mom of course.

"No problem sweetie." She said, entering the room and taking a seat on the love seat in front of the window closest to miley's bed. "Okay so I wanted to talk to you guys about how things are going to be while you're staying here, Nick."

"Mom-" Miley began before Nick stopped her by grabbing her waist and gently squeezing it. "Go ahead." he told Tish who was giving Miley a  
hard look.

"Well, anyway, due to the room shortage of this house, I'm going to put my trust in both of you and let you two share this room, _but…_" she  
quickly added as soon as she saw the little smirks appearing on both teenagers' lips. "This is your first and last warning, if you cross the line even once, he's out of here, got it?" She asked, Miley specifically, with a stern look.

"What _exactly _do you mean by 'cross the line'? Miley jokingly asked her mom, earning a chuckle from Nick and a warning look from Tish. "Okay, okay," she said holding her hands up "got it."

"Got it." Nick assured.

"Okay, good," she said getting up and heading for the door, "breakfast will be ready in a bit." And with that, she exited the room.

"I should go brush my teeth." Miley stood up from her position next to Nick, who just pulled her back down and planted a firm kiss on herlips. "Now you can go." He smiled.

"Wierdo" she joked as she headed for the bathroom. "Ew!" she exclaimed as soon as her eyes landed on her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"What?" Nick asked as he entered the bathroom, searching for whatever it was that she was being hysterical about.

"Why didn't you tell me how disgusting I looked?" She ran her fingers through the tangled mess that lay on her head.

"Is that what girls like to hear from their boyfriends when they wake up now?"

She ignored his comment and continued with her self criticism. "I knew it wasn't a good idea to sleep with my makeup on, I look like a freaking raccoon," she rubbed below her eyelids, trying get rid of the black smears.

Nick rolled his eyes and made his way back to the room. "Quit exaggerating, you look fine."

"Exaggerating? Look at how pale I look, I look like a monster; If that's your definition of fine..."

"Miley Stewart, I would _gladly_ lick every single square inch of your pale naked body." He said with a smirk, knowing that would definitely shut her up.

Miley's jaw dropped and she stopped what she was doing to look at him from the bathroom door. "Nick!" She exclaimed trying to hide a smile  
when she saw the smirk plastered on his face.

"Oh don't be such a prude." He grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand and put in his back pocket.

"I am not a prude." Miley stated, checking the mirror one last time before exiting the bathroom.

"Oh yeah?" He stepped closer to where she stood, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her body close to his and gave her cheek a little lick.

"Nick!" She giggled, pulling her face way back so that she was now leaning back into his arms as he tried to do it once more. "Stop it."

"What? You're not going to let me lick your body? I thought you weren't a prude."

"Shut up," she pulled herself off of him, "let's go get some breakfast.

** T.H.E.O.N.L.Y.E.X.C.E.P.T.I.O.N **

"Guess what Demi brought?" Miley sang as she entered her bedroom, in which Nick was laying comfortably on her bed flipping through the television channels.

"Finally." Nick said, never peeling his eyes of the TV. "I'm sick of these clothes I've had on for what seems like forever."

"I'll probably need to get rid of a crap load of my stuff to fit your clothes in here," Miley said, rummaging through her closet. "I wonder if my mom has any extra hangers lying around somewhere."

"Miley," Nick held his arm out as she looked at him with a confused expression. "Come here," he said, gesturing for her with his arms to go to him with.

She made her way over to him, making herself comfortable next to him as he wrapped his arms firmly around her and pulled her into his lap. "What?" She looked up at him, the confused expression never leaving her face. He was never that touchy-feely, that probably caught her off guard.

Nick had never been good with words and he didn't know exactly how to tell her how thankful he was to have someone like her at such a crappy  
time of his life. Had he been good with words, he would have told her how without her, he would probably be at his worst and how meeting her was possibly the best thing that had ever happened to him. He had never trusted anyone as much as he trusted Miley, and that thought scared him a little but at the same time, he had become so attached that the thought of losing her was unbearable.

He kissed the top of her head then tightened his arms around her as she rested her head on his chest. "Thanks." He said lamely, wishing he could show her his gratitude in a better and more meaningful way.

"For?" She asked, playing with one of the buttons on his plaid, flannel shirt.

"Everything." He said gently stroking her hair, "I don't know how you can take all my shit."

She looked up at him, "Watch your language." She smiled, only making his heart melt with her genuine innocence.

"Sorry" he chuckled, tightening his arms around her. Where had this girl been all his life? To think that in such a short amount of time he had become so attached scared the hell out of him and excited him at the same time. He was starting to believe that maybe love really did exist and his parents just never found it. _Maybe._

Hey guys! Sorry in advance if this chapter seems like it's all over the place, it's just that I had a chapter ready to kind of prepare you guys for this one, but somehow I deleted it. I was going to rewrite it but it just would not come out right (that's mainly why it took me so long to update), so I tried saying everything I needed to say in this chapter. So if there's anything that confuses you in this chapter, feel free to bombard me with questions. Another thing, I realized although this is Nicks story, it is EXTREMELY difficult to stick to his point of view, so in future chapters, I will most likely write in Miley's point of view in order to give the story a better flow. I'm also sorry if this chapter seems rushed; I just really wanted to give guys something. Anyway, enjoy!

** T.H.E.O.N.L.Y.E.X.C.E.P.T.I.O.N **

**Happy holidays! Hope you all had a wonderful christmas, I know I did :) Review please!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Weeeeell...I'm a tad bit confused. I received a crap load of favorite story/author alerts yet nobody reviews. Not a single person. I know I  
said I don't do this for reviews, and honest to God I don't, but I simply won't write anymore if no one's reviewing. Simple as that. Are  
you guys already bored with this story? Because if you are, let meknow so I won't have to waste my time with it anymore. I seriously  
could have had this chapter ready the day after my last update (no joke), but since you guys didn't review, I was like screw it, andinstead of writing for the past two weeks, I've been watching some NJ&TA concert videos (OMG "Stay" *DEAD* all my followers on Twitter are probably annoyed by now :p). The point is, no reviews = no inspiration = no update :). Sooo with that said, if I don't get at least five reviews for this chapter, I'll just end this story. Deal? Deal. And I hate having to do this, but you leave me no choice.**

**PS, I found out today that you can totally review without an account, hint, hint, wink, wink ;)  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

**PPS, It may look different because I used my iPod to write it. and sorry if you find some gramatical errors, I'm tired.**

**Chapter 5**

"Miley!" Nick trudged into the abnormally large kitchen, looking all  
around it for his girl. Oh, how it felt to refer to her as that. _his _girl. The missing puzzle to his, once meaningless life...of course he  
would never say that out loud.

"Hey Nick, what's up?" Came Tish's voice from her position on a stool  
on the spotless, white, square island that dominated the kitchen  
space. She was in the middle of eating a bowl of corn flakes.

"Hey Tish, have you seen Miley?"

"No I haven't, but have a seat, let's chat," she smiled patting the  
area near her. "You're always with Miley and as a result we never get  
the chance to talk."

"What do you want to talk about?" he questioned her, taking a seat in  
a stool next to hers.

"Anything; tell me about yourself, I think there's a lot about you  
that I don't know." She seemed genuinely intrigued by him and what he  
had to say. She had that same look Miley had whenever she was truly  
interested in something, where her eyes would slightly widen with a  
mesmerizing glow, such as those of an overexcited child on Christmas  
morning, and she would have a smile plastered on her face in  
anticipation. At the moment, she looked like the exact replica of her  
daughter and he couldn't help but smile. Like mother like daughter.

"Okay, well it all started about seventeen years ago on a cold  
September night-"

"Okay, okay, now skip to about seventeen years later, which is...oh  
would you look at that? Right now." she said jokingly, earning a  
chuckle from him. Wow, no wonder he liked Miley so much, look at who  
raised her.

"Oh well, in that case, you should probably know that I'm an extremely  
boring person, and unlike all the other douches of this world, I'm not  
going to say my idea of fun is to take long strolls on the beach, I'm  
a guy with a very dry personality and sense of humor, _hate_ any sort of  
public display of affection, and I actually enjoy staying indoors with  
my guitar to try to imitate great talents such as Mayer, Castello,  
Wonder, you know, just normal teenage behavior."

"Good choice going with Miley then because she just loves funny,  
outgoing, romantic gems such as yourself." She said sarcastically  
earning a somewhat unsure look from Nick. He had asked Miley if she  
knew what she was getting herself into, involving herself with someone  
like him, now _he _wasn't so sure if _he_ knew what he was getting himself  
into; but he was too far in to even consider going back.

"Yeah..." He replied after the long pause.

"Tell me something Nick; truthfully, what do you like about my  
daughter." She asked with a more serious yet friendly expression.

"Truthfully?" He smiled at the swarm of butterflies let loose in his  
stomach just from the mention of her name. "Another thing you should  
probably know about me is that speaking is not really my thing and I'm  
terrible with words so this is a fairly difficult task you're asking  
of me."

"It's okay, just do your best." She smiled at him, urging him to  
proceed.

"What can I say? She's Miley. She's so beautiful inside and out, call  
me corny but it's true. I have never met a girl so down to earth, and  
it's rare to find that in girls our age these days." By now, Nick  
wasn't even looking at Tish anymore, all he could see was his  
girlfriends flawless face as he blabbed on and on about her.

"One of my favorite qualities of hers is how incredibly modest she is;  
it's ridiculous how she's so effortlessly beautiful and she has no  
idea." He let out an airy laugh just thinking about it. "I rarely  
express my feelings, but when I tell her, 'Miley you're so beautiful',  
she takes it lightly thinking it's my job as her boyfriend to tell her  
things like that and I swear I feel like smacking her upside the head  
because she actually doesn't know how beautiful she really is.  
It's also sad because she has such a big heart and a vibrant  
personality but her self-esteem doesn't match up. She can pick me up  
from the lowest of lows but I feel like an ass because I try but fail  
to show her gratitude by building up her self-esteem because she  
simply won't let me." He let out an involuntary sigh as soon as he was  
done with his speech.

"Wow, so how long have you been rehearsing that? Because to me that  
sounded like someone who's _very_ good with words." She grinned at him.  
"I don't know where it all came from, but that's really sweet of you  
Nick, I wouldn't want my daughter with anyone better." She said,  
pushing her medium-length, blond locks away from her face.

"I never spill my guts to anybody, not even Miley; I like you Tish,  
you're one of the only cool people left in this world. Don't tell  
Miley I said that." That got a loud laugh from her, another quality  
passed down to Miley.

"You're not too bad yourself Nick Gray, I have to say, I'm impressed."  
She said still laughing a little.

"Good," he got up off the stool, "then my work here is done." And with  
that, he headed up the stairs, leaving yet another Stewart head over  
heels.

*****T.H.E.O.N.L.Y.E.X.C.E.P.T.I.O.N.*****

"We got the afternoon  
You got this room for two  
One thing I've left to do  
Discover me  
Discovering you"

Miley smiled to herself as she thought about the lyrics flowing from  
the lips of the brilliant artist blaring from her boom box. As she  
arranged the items on top of her dresser, she reminisced back to a few  
months before, how she would listen to that same song and it would  
cause goose bumps to form on every single square inch of her body, but  
even that couldn't compare to how it made her feel at the moment. She  
felt bubbly and as though she was floating on clouds, the butterflies  
went hectic in her tummy as Nick's beautiful face appeared in her  
mind. And almost as if on cue, she heard that perfect, angelic, nearly-  
identical-to-John-Mayer, voice that she pleaded to hear on a daily  
basis, whisper the oh so sweet lyrics in a mesmerizing melody.

"One mile to every inch of your skin like porcelain.." Nick sang,  
wrapping his arms around her petite waist from behind.

She turned around in his arms and gave him a cheeky smile without  
saying a single word, not wanting to ruin the perfect moment. "One  
pair of candy lips and your bubblegum tongue..." he slightly brushed  
his lips against hers, causing her to slowly shut her eyes in  
anticipation. "Cause if you want love we'll make it..." he chuckled at  
her reddening face and kissed her nose, she then buried her face in  
the crook of his neck.

"What has gotten into you?" She mumbled against his neck, her hot  
breath tickling it and causing him to shiver a bit from the chills  
that ran down his spinal chord. She was referring to his rather  
strange affectionate behavior; he was never the one to do such  
romantic things. The reason he never showed affection was that he was  
rather awkward when it came to those sorts of situations. The truth of  
the matter was not that he was too "tough" for such things, as some  
may have assumed, it was that he would much rather not place himself  
in such uncomfortable situations.

"Your mom may have let me in on the 411 with you, and I found out that  
you like to dance," he said softly, swaying with her from side to  
side, "and you love it when a guy treats you like a princess, so I  
said: why not?" He felt her lips form into a smile against his neck as  
he continued to sing along with the infamous song.

"Your body is a wonderland..." he pulled her closer to him, as their  
bodies continued to sway from side to side, matching the rhythm of the  
song. "I'll use my hands..." he whispered in her ear and nibbled her  
earlobe, as he trailed his hands down her sides to her curvy hips and  
used his hands to move them from side to side. "Nick!" she yelped in  
between a fit of giggles, moving his hands off of her hips, "stop it!"

He chuckled at her tactics and took his lips close to hers, pausing  
inches away to tease her. "Niiiick.." she whined earning a smirk from  
him. "Miley, are you PLEADING?" To which she replied by placing her  
lips softly on his in a short, but sweet, kiss.

"Damn baby, you frustrate me," he looked deep into her eyes, that were  
filling up with happy tears, "I know you're mine all mine all mine,"  
he whispered, hoping to assure her that although those words were not  
necessarily from his heart, he meant every single one of them. "But  
you look so good it hurts sometimes." His forehead was now rested  
against hers, as he attempted to wipe the tears that were now falling  
from her eyes. "Don't cry, this is a happy song."

"I can't help it, you're being so sweet" she buried her face in his  
chest. "If you really think about the lyrics, I'm actually not being  
sweet at all," he smirked as she gave him a look.

"Your body is a wonderland; I'll use my hands." He demonstrated his  
words by cupping her ass in his hands and giving it a small squeeze.  
"Nick!" She jumped a little, caught off guard; she gave him a look  
trying to hide her smile. He laughed once more at her blushing face as  
the beautiful song came to an all too quick end.

"You just established that song as 'our song'." Miley confirmed with  
an excited grin.

He looked at her with a comical expression, "man, you really are  
cheesy."

"And you sure do know how to ruin a moment." She said, pulling away  
and out of his arms.

Nick watched her as she made her way over to his sleeping bag on the  
floor and rolling it up in order to tidy the room up a bit. "Mileeey"  
he chuckled wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and resting  
his chin on her shoulder. "I was just messing with you." He whispered  
his reassurance in her ear then turned her around to face him. "Try not  
to take me too literally, okay?"

She nodded. "Sorry. Anything else I should know about you?" she  
slightly smiled up at him.

"Besides the fact that a girl I met a little over a month ago is  
driving me insane, nothing." He returned the smile, taking the hair  
that had fallen down in front of her shoulder and pushing it to her  
back that way his lips had access to her bare shoulder, which was  
poorly covered by merely the violet, lacy, spaghetti strap of her  
pajama top.

"And that's a...good thing I assume?" she asked with a hint of doubt  
evident in her voice.

"Look at it this way," he lifted his head up to look her square in the  
eyes. "Two months ago, the thought of me even holding hands with a  
girl in public disgusted me." He let out a little snort. "Look at me  
now; smiling more in a day than I've ever smiled in my entire life,  
singing-I haven't sang since I was thirteen-, and now I'm even pouring  
my heart out to your mom! The fact that I'm even telling you about  
this scares the crap out of me." He paused for a little bit, almost as  
thought for dramatic effect. "But above all that, I could care less;  
it's as if I'm a totally different person. It's scary, yet exciting at  
the same time."

Miley had one of her big, bright mesmerizing smiles plastered on her  
face as if she had just been granted every little thing she had ever  
wanted in her life. "What'd you tell my mom?"

"That's between your mom and I." He winked at her as she pulled away  
from him and grabbed her towel off of her bed heading for the bathroom.

"I'll just ask her as soon as I finish showering," she called out to  
him, receiving a loud chuckle from him.

"Be sure to be ready tonight at 6:30 by the way, I'm taking you out to  
dinner," he called out to her, "I never got the chance to formally  
take you out for a first date."

"Eeep! Really?" He knew that would please her; she was never a hard  
one to please. All he had to do was make sure not to mess up.

"Yeah-" He was interrupted by his buzzing phone off the night stand.  
He grabbed it and flipped it open revealing an all too familiar phone  
number.

Hesitating at first, he decided he would have to face the music sooner  
or later. He obviously chose sooner rather than later. "Hello?" The  
well-rehearsed, nonchalant voice he was so accustomed to coming out so  
natural, he mentally applauded himself.

"Where the hell have you been?" came his dad's voice from the other  
end of the line, most definitely not sounding very fatherly at all.  
"Your mother's dying and you're off in God only know where doing who  
knows what, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm not ready to see her, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be," Nick  
said through clenched teeth. He was not appreciating the tone his  
father was using. One wrong word, and who knows where he would end up.

"Make sure Demi's mom knows I'm on my way to pick you up." stressed  
father commanded and Nick felt that he would explode if the  
conversation did not end soon.

"First of all, I'm not at Demi's house, I'm at Miley's, second of all,  
I already told you,_ I'm not ready to see her_."

"And what the hell do you mean by that?" He too, was obviously trying  
to keep his emotions under control by clenching his teeth together.  
"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't put your feelings aside  
and come be with your mother at a time like this?"

"I go see her when I'm ready; I'm not changing my mind."

"What kind of son are you that you would let your own mother _die_  
without making things right. Do you even know what kind of stress and  
restlessness she's feeling right now? Do you realize that it's that  
stress that could make this process go by so much quicker?-"

"The fact that she has cancer does not excuse the stupid mistakes that  
she _refused _to address, might I add. She can't expect a pity party  
from me...I used to _beg _her to-" he paused as an attempt to halt the  
mixtures of emotions that were just about ready to spill fro him. How  
dare his father have the nerve to try to make him feel guilt for not  
being there for his mother.

He took a deep breath before continuing with his tirade. "I wanted so  
badly for her to quit cigarettes, she would always promise she  
would...yet another broken promise."

"And that's your reasoning for not being here for her?"  
He could clearly hear the mixture of emotion in his fathers voice,  
with disappointment overpowering all else (once again). By now, Nick  
was so used to disappointment, it was merely routine for him to shrug  
it off and move on. "Well then, goodbye; call me when you've found  
your mind 'cause you've clearly lost it."

As soon as Nick heard the dial tone on the other end of the line and,  
almost as if on cue, the shower stop running from the bathroom, he  
knew what he had to do. His temper was definitely not one of his better  
qualities; one string pulled and it could all go downhill from there.

Without a second thought, Nick was shoving his cell onto his  
nightstand beside the small lamp properly placed smack in the middle.  
He quickly grabbed his faded brown, leather jacket off the top of the  
laundry basket, that Miley obviously forgotten about. Miley. Oh how he  
wished he could just stay there with her, rant to her about his  
issues, forget all else and just...But something told him he had to  
get out of there before he did or said something irrational.

He stepped out of the room as quietly yet quickly as he could manage  
and as he started making his way down the stairs, he was pretty sure  
he heard Miley's voice call out to him, but he had to assure himself  
otherwise. It was for the best.

**I've decided to keep my moth shut and let you guys be the judge on whether it sucks or not. so review and let me know what you think. ****Also, follow me on Twitter, twatta, whatever you prefer to call it if you'd like to chat, if you'd like to stay updated on this story or whatevaa :) -- .com/florencie123**


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